title: Effect of confinement on polymer-induced depletion interactions between nanoparticles.
abstract: Using a numerical implementation of polymer mean-field theory, we probe the effects of a structureless wall on the insertion free energies and the depletion interactions between nanoparticles in polymer solutions. Our results indicate that the insertion free energies and the polymer-induced interactions become mitigated in the presence of a wall. The range of influence of the walls is shown to correspond to the correlation length of the polymer solution. Surprisingly, our results demonstrate that even for particle sizes comparable to the correlation length of the polymer solution, the polymer depletion density profiles near the wall (in the absence of particles) can be used as a means to quantitatively predict the influence of the wall on both the insertion free energies and the depletion interactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pryamitsyn
authors.forename: Venkat
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ganesan